A Twisted Neverland
by musicalfreak86
Summary: A short story about what Neverland really is. Rated M for the dark theme.


**This is something I came up with at around 2:00 A.M. My friend had just written a dark version of 'Alice In Wonderland' for school, and I was inspired. Let me know what you think.**

** I do not own Peter Pan.  
**

There is a place called Neverland. It only exists in childrens' minds, or at least, that's what the adults always tell them, when the children awaken with a fright saying that they have been to Neverland and that the pirates are after them. The children insist that the place is real, telling the parents over and over again what they see happen to other unsuspecting friends that have fallen into the hands of the pirates or the fairies. This disturbs the parents, though they brush it off as a nightmare, and even believing that's all it is. But the children that go to Neverland are never the same again, though only a choice few ever make it. Many children don't have the right minds for Neverland, and never find the way there. Sometimes, their friends who have been tell them that it's better this way, though the other children continue to look for ways to get there.

Some children die in their sleep. Doctors always write it off as heart problems, a childhood sickness, sometimes even complications in birth if they are young enough. These are the children that fall to the pirates or the fairies. Because, if you are killed in Neverland, you don't wake up and return to the real world. You are forced to stay there for the rest of eternity, roaming as one of the Lost Children, who wander the waterside at night, crying for parents whom they will never be able to return to. They wring their hands and pace, but never get anywhere. They are empty.

The pirates in Neverland are spoken of as little as possible, except for the children who have seen them and are terrified. It is common knowledge in Neverland however, that the pirates are merciless in their killings, particularly enjoying young children. No one knows exactly what the pirates do to these children, because no one has ever returned from trying to find out.

The fairies are almost as bad as the pirates. Maybe even worse. They nest in bushes that grow sweet berries. They wait and watch, with beady black eyes, for someone to pick the berries. They swarm out of the bushes and attack before the person has a chance to react. Their little claws tear away at flesh, eating while there is still life. When they have had their fill, they use bones to build their nests deep in the bushes where no one would expect them, waiting for a next victim to arrive.

The leader of Neverland is almost a fairy itself. It is neither male nor female, not entirely fairy, or pirate, or human. It is a creature all its own. They call it Pan, though where the name came from, no one knows. It has clawed fingers and toes, pointy ears, and is clothed only in leaves. Some say that it lives in a cave by day and leaves during the night, to search for victims. Others say it never leaves the air, always flying, always watching for the right moment to spring. Still others say that it blends in with the landscape, becoming a tree, or a fairy bush, until someone passes its way. If a child goes to Neverland and meets Pan, he does not return.

Children who go to Neverland are lucky to ever get out again. They return to their bodies the next morning, though they are never quite the same again, always jumpy, looking over their shoulders and around corners before turning. They fear shadow, always wanting a light on at night when they are to sleep. But the children who have visited Neverland will never sleep easily again. They will forevermore fear sleep, dreading the time that they may return to Neverland, and have to face its horrors again.

What the children do not know is that once they have visited Neverland, they never really leave it. A part of them is left behind, left to wander the shadowy land forever.

To murder with the pirates, eat with the fairies, and to govern with Pan itself.


End file.
